Don't just do something, stand there

(or sit, as the case may be.)

Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair.

And I'm so glad of it.

I had a plane reserved this afternoon. I had no plans. I'd bump around the pattern, maybe fly over my house. It really didn't matter--anything to escape the surface, to escape this world for a few minutes and focus on something that is truly refreshing to me.

It was a blustery spring day today though. At least most of the day. I held out as long as I could. About 4:00 I got the weather at Hamilton. Overcast at 2400. Wind at 12 knots, gusting to 18.

No thanks. Flying is supposed to be fun. Gusting winds and a glorified tin can don't equate to fun in my mind. Not today, anyway.

It was supposed to clear, but it hadn't been trending that way yet. So I cancelled.

I was desperate for other plans. I called several friends for dinner or just distraction. Nope. It was just me and my house.

No thanks to that either.

So I left work and headed to Starbuck's for two of my favorite things. Reading and people watching.

I watched a woman leave her huge beast of a black dog out on the sidewalk, just laying the leash on the ground. He sat there for ten minutes patiently waiting for his owner to return to their walk. Unbelievable.

A girl walked in wearing a "Jesus for President" t-shirt. I laughed out loud.

A man in his fifties was sitting there reading Atlas Shrugged.

An hour or so later when I left skies were clearing and the wind was calm. Drat.

So I headed home. More reading. A little writing. A letter to a friend. A couple quick email messages. Notes in the margin of a book I'm reading (lately every book I read calls out to be given as a gift to someone).

One of the books I'm in the midst of is L'Engle's Two-Part Inventions.

She describes simply being with her husband as he fought cancer. There was nothing for her to do but offer her faithful, loving presence.

Sometimes that's all that is required, isn't it? Oftentimes for others all that is required is sitting holding hands, staving off the fear by pooling the energies of two.

Sometimes that's all that should be done for ourselves.

I ran across this quote earlier in the year: "It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way" (Rollo May).

Don't just do something. Stand there.

Or sit on the couch, immerse yourself in music and words and enjoy rest. It really is allowed on a random Thursday evening.

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior.

A Collect for Peace